The Gamer's Quarter

dhex

hey bloodlines is on steam for ten bucks.

if you liked deus ex it is totally worth ten bucks.

if you like vampires you might want some kinda psychiatric help but it would still be worth ten bucks.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

You mean that Vamprire: The Masquerade game?

How is that? I've heard such mixed reviews about the game and also heard it's a pain in the ass to get to run properly.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

I got it running ok!

The initial release was very buggy though... i wonder if the steam version is compatable with the fan patches?

It's a pretty awesome game, when patched. I didn't encounter any bugs when I played.

The last third of the game does go a bit downhill, though.

Also make sure you have a character that is good at melee on your first play.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

It's worth the one playthrough. Deus Ex is far more solid and consistent, which is saying something.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

dracko shut up
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dhex · Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:29 pm Post subject:

steam version does work with patches.

last third is pretty disappointing.

but ultimately it is a fun game totally worth 9.95 if you like deus ex style faux parson shotters.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Meh, it can't be as bad as Fahrenheits/Indigo Prophecy.

Since I'm taking like, three peoples word for it, can I at least get linked to the fan patches?
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

sediment · Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:42 pm Post subject:

i'm sad enough to have beaten Bloodlines four times. Sad

great game. I really wish they'd have had certain other clans but can completely understand why they excluded them.

I will say: I love Andrei (the Tzimisce) as a boss. He gets an entire, large map devoted to him, and that's more than any other pre-endgame Bloodlines boss can say.

Also Animalism is fucking broken. The "beetle bullet" costs 0 blood and is really rapid-firing.

I encourage anyone who didn't play nossie or malk on their first playthrough to at least experience the game a little bit as both.
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Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

It's a good game. I wouldn't even say the last 1/3rd is bad, maybe just the last, uh, 1/6th. It is a much better Deus Ex sequel than Deus Ex's sequel. Some of the dungeon-type places are way too long, especially the sewers, which means, yeah, melee's the way to go first time. Not terribly balanced. But definitely a lot of fun.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

yeah, last third is probably a bit too rough. it's a little later than that and it's not exactly a disaster of EPIC PROPORTIONS like many other games, it's just quite dissapointing and i wouldn't blame anyone for stopping at that point.
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sediment · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:25 am Post subject:

The sewers do have convenient exit points every so often! I went ranged my first playthrough, which was probably a bad move in the end. Got to be real good friends with Fat Larry, Trip, and Tseng though.

Regardless, I agree- the last section seems rushed and has a bunch of abrupt transitions. Lacroix's tower had a lot more loving care put into it than Ming's temple - the temple just seemed to go on and on and on with "puzzles" thrown in that didn't really jive with the rest of the game, while the tower had the scripted commando events and the mind-controlled suicide bomber.

I read somewhere Troika rushed to try and get it out before HL2 came out, or at the same time, or something - regardless, that was a bad move. if they'd have spent a couple more weeks polishing up they would've had serious gold on their hands, without there being the need for ten subsequent fan patches to repair the game in various places.
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Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Oops, I didn't mean the main sewers, I meant the overly-long sewer tunnels to the Nosferatu hideout, where you have to fight all those little horror movie things. Ugh.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

sediment · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:37 pm Post subject:

yeah, i meant those too. every room where you find a service worker's logbook or something similar, there's an exit to Hollywood.

They're really conveniently located too. You have to exit from the workroom in order to have it reaccessible from Hollywood's sewer map, but once you do you can go back in any time.

Except they maybe seal off after the nossie hideout thing. Dunno, never tried to go back in after.
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Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Oh, huh. Didn't know that. That makes that part much more tolerable. I played through twice and charged the sewer without breaking both times. Yeah.

Oh yeah, the Ming Temple part that everyone hates is entirely dependent on the choices you make at that end part. You don't have to play it. Of course, this affects the ending.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

sediment · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:02 pm Post subject:

I should play through again and pick Ming. For some reason on my other plays I either unwittingly said something offensive (Malk), or my mere existence was an insult to her (Nossie), or was just plain rude (Tremere, Toreador).

She's a real tightass. I always get a little dumbstruck by the wooshwoosh arm thing she constantly does while talking, it's like she's a blaxploitation film actress who got Asian'd or she's trying to get the momentum to pirouette with the camera or something.
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jjsimpso · . Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 94 Location: USA

Bloodlines for $9.95? Looks like I'm finally going to create a Steam account. I'm a big fan of Troika and I almost bought this at $19.95 on a couple of occasions. Is this a limited-time offer for Halloween?

dhex · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:22 pm Post subject:

november 5 is the cutoff date.

ha ha cutoff like with a gravedigger's spade.

contextual itt.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

sediment · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:50 pm Post subject:

sry i missed that Sad

Planet Vampire was pretty up-to-date earlier this year, and I believe the forums are still pretty active if the download section there doesn't have what you need.

(you can also pick up some decent mods there if you want)
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